Jeff hit the nail right on the head. If u practice before nationals, practice going straight up the boards. Use dull stuff the first game to sponge up the outside and try to stay clean. Then take advantage of the lanes opening up. get that 1 big game in the middle and first 5 frames of the last game, and grind out the last 5 frames. Practice going hard and straight at all your spares to eliminate the dry middle. Most people miss way too many easy spares at nationals trying to shoot spares like they do on their THS. This is supposedly one of the toughest conditions they have put out in years. Like top 5 toughest, so hang in there. Good luck.

on way home from Nationals today. Our 2 teams (on our pair) all played together outside of 7 in practice. a couple of sanded balls but mostly just no polished stuff. The backends had more friction than the practice lanes upstairs. We thought they would play tighter because the practice lanes blew up quicker than expected (was much hotter up there).

The more back end caused some of the stronger handed players to start moving quicker inside, BUT they kept the breakpoints about the same as the straighter players. THIS was a key! That way we could all use the same spot later as they opened up, just from different angles. The was a deviation from the original plan. We had to adapt because of the stronger than expected backends.

Team MOTIVated (myself and Dustin Baker were the staffers on the team - Rob Lange and Justin Wyman were on companion team) shot 916, 1020, 1085 - 3021 for top 70 place when we left!!!

game 2 was a bit frustrating. we started with spare and 14 in a row as a team. then the transitiopn started and only had a handfull of strikes for the next 4-5 frames. but we regrouped to finish strong and only had 4 holes game 3...

I used a 2000AB pin up Sigma Tour and then a fairly strong drilled TZ3 (pearl/polish). Dustin used a couple of different Sigma Hybrids (going to weaker covers). Another strong handed teammate started with a 2000 TR2 and then to a Primal Impulse and a very shiny Primal.

Minor events was a disaster (mostly) as we followed a very inaccurate regular team that scattered the oil in the middle and the other pair were classified teams with a lot of plastic balls used. oil was everywhere and not fun...

If anyone has specific questions please ask... and good luck out there..

If I were to give advice to anyone getting ready to bowl nationals I would suggest these few things. Everyone I saw over the course of the 3 days I was there that did these things seemed to have a good chance to score and a consistent ball reaction. The ones that did not struggled to score and have any consistent roll/reaction.

1. Choose bowling balls that are designed and/or drilled for a smoother breakpoint.2. Stay "soft" with your hand at the bottom of your swing. 2a. Stay behind the ball try not to come around the side too much.

In my opinion this condition forces the majority of us to play a straighter line and takes the 6/7 board to the gutter out of play. When having to play a straighter shot the last thing you want is your ball to over react when it hits friction especially on a 38' oil pattern. If you can have the right equipment in your hand, stay behind the ball and not over torque the ball you will have a good chance to score. This is what I experienced and saw the time I was there anyways. Good luck!

Mike Yost, i have similar stats as u a far as speed, rev rate, tilt and axis point, what equip did u use there? i know my pin up ST is gonna be in the bag for sure, but would a pin down Thrash have been too much ball for u? thinking of bringing a recon also.Ron D.

Ron I'll be honest I really didn't throw anything but my Raptor Attack because I felt it gave me the best opportunity before I even threw a ball. I will say in looking back I probably should have started with my Thrash or Sigma Hybrid for the first game or so on team event when we were playing outside but I was throwing it so bad until the end of the 2nd game in team it wouldn't of mattered what I was throwing. After shooting 140 & 170 something I finally relaxed as I figured it couldn't get any worse! To answer your question I think the Thrash would be good during team and if it is at 4000 or has polish it would be good on singles/doubles as well. IMO once you move in you don't want to have any surface in your hand as you don't want to burn the front part of the lane once your inside. I was limited in bringing 5 balls with me so I didn't even bring my Sigma Tour as it is too strong on the backend and wouldn't be a good fit on that pattern for me. I decided to go with the Raptor Attack because I don't have to fight the heads with it but it reads enough of the midlane that it will not be too violent on the backend when it hits friction so I have a nice strong controlled motion. Whatever you do throw I think the key is to not grab or try to overthrow it. There is enough backend that you don't need to "hook" the ball it will do it on its own. Easier said then done though and trust me I know I've been working on it for years!

I will agree a lot with Mike. Myself and DB played the lanes very similar (and both shot around 640 in team). DB used 3 Simga Tour Hybrids and just kept getting weaker (the ball). I used my Sigma Tour with pin above ring, but took polish off. I had it at 2000AB matte and it didn't over react to the dry at all. I am more speed dominant so didn't have worry about early hook with 2K surface. You may want to do 4K. I think Raptor (being smoother than Raptor Attack) is also a good choice. I aslo liked the look I had with my Recon orange (again has a solid surface - non pearl) like the Sigma Tour.

Solid covers with smooth, non polish surface are the best, in my opinion. Also, as Mike said, soft hand. Just think about being smooth with the release and let the lane hook it, cuz it will.

One final thing, straight down 5 or so, there was more hook off the end of the pattern than we all thought. DONT swing at all to there, but straight down boards gives a nice reaction...

I bowled about a month ago, actually had the team squad right after Justin and his group finished singles and doubles, cool to get to watch the guy in person that I see in all the youtube videos . . but this was one of the better patterns I've ever bowled on. There didn't seem to be one group of bowlers left out or locked out, meaning you could play your game, it didn't seem that getting left was an advantage over playing straight, or that the left side was easier or tighter than the right. Wherever you played, you had about 2 boards to work with.

I'll echo what a few previous posters have said, with one exception. I didn't really find burning up the outside to be advantageous, rather I wanted the extra oil there, because that was really the only place on the lane where the ball would hold. Played correctly, this pattern is fairly simple, but the challenge in this pattern laid completely in reading it right and playing it right. Being soft at the bottom was a must, and the biggest obstacle was getting push through the heads and midlane, there was recovery further outside than most people think (5 board is a lot closer to the gutter than it looks) and PLENTY of backend. The strong stuff definitely needs to stay in the bag unless you have a ton of speed. The strong stuff actually created over/under for me, it would move early in the middle of the lane, and even though there was enough hook outside to get a ball back, the increased speed and reduced revs you had to put on the ball to get it through the heads and mids created hang that really wasn't there. I took a Sigma Tour, Sigma Hybrid, and a dead polished original Taboo (which I consequently threw for the last 8 games, as the two Sigmas were just too much ball). I'm fairly new to Motiv, so given a few more balls, I'd have most likely ended up throwing the Thrash or Recon (a buddy of mine let me drill him a Thrash before we went, he had been a Hammer guy, and the Thrash is what he ended up using for all but one game).

And yeah, pick up your spares, I had single pins cost me about 50 pins, and a lot of bracket money. In summary, weak equipment, soft hand, and really just float it down there. It didn't seem to matter how you got to your breakpoint as long as you got there, even tame balls were turning fairly hard. This year seemed to be a lot more about mental game and accuracy than anything else. I tried following the burn up the outside and inch your way left thing, but it just didn't work. I ended up a little deeper than I normally play and just feathered it through the middle. Good luck to anybody who still hasn't gone yet, it was a lot of fun.

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